How the Prudential RideLondon went from a bold idea to reality

Cyclists will take over the streets of London and Surrey this weekend for Britain’s biggest ever cycling event, the Prudential RideLondon.

Over 70,000 people are expected to take part in the two-day festival, which forms part of the London 2012 legacy.

The scale of the event is unprecedented in this country; below Cycling Weekly looks at how Britain’s biggest-ever cycling event came into fruition ahead of the inaugural edition.

April 5, 2011“Boris Johnson wants to host cycling marathon in London“The Mayor’s plans to put on the “London Marathon on wheels” in 2013 and beyond are revealed. There are four routes and options on the table, varying between 60 and 120 kilometres long – they included replicating the 2012 Olympic road race courses, a London-centric route that started on The Mall and finished in the Olympic Park after travelling through 20 boroughs, an Olympic Park start and finish via central London and Essex and a Greenwich to Kent leg (similar the opening stage of the 2007 Tour de France) before a central London finish.

January 26, 2012London to host cycling festival in 2013To coincide with a speech from Boris Johnson to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, stakeholders from the Mayor’s office, British Cycling, Transport for London and the Olympic Park Legacy Company announce plans for a two-day festival of cycling for August 2013 at a press conference in London. Details were sketchy, but the ideas were big, most notably a fully-closed road sportive and elite men’s race. An “iconic finish” is planned, with The Mall, the Olympic Park and Hyde Park in contention. A WorldTour ranking for the latter (which would rank it alongside the top races) is touted, but the UCI confirm to Cycling Weekly that such a status is “impossible” for 2013. CW also reveals that the provisional date for the event is August 10 and 11; this is later brought forward a week.

An outline of the proposals was released in this document.

March 11Cape Argus Pick ‘n’ Pay Cycle TourRepresentatives from the event’s stakeholders – including British Cycling’s Cycle Sport & Membership Director Jonny Clay – attend the Cape Argus, the world’s largest individually-timed cycling event, in South Africa. The Argus is notable for having the elite and amateur cyclists start together, unlike what will happen on Sunday in London.

March 29Tender process candidates announcedThe six shortlisted candidates to run the legacy event are revealed. Tour de France organiser ASO is among them, as is a partnership between Tour of Britain organiser SweetSpot and the London Marathon (under the guise of the London & Surrey Cycling Partnership).

August 10RideLondon Olympic cycling legacy event launchedThe London & Surrey Cycling Partnership are announced as the successful delivery partner (organiser) on the third to last day of competition at London 2012 by Boris Johnson. The name RideLondon is revealed, the BBC are confirmed as the event’s broadcaster partner for five years, expressions of interest for the 20,000 RideLondon 100 sportive are opened online and FreeCycle event is confirmed as replacing the capital’s annual SkyRide. CW predicts the pro race will receive a 1.1 ranking from the UCI, which would put it on a par with Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and Strade Bianche. The route is not revealed, but CW learns that it will be similar to the Olympic road race courses. Recently-crowned double Olympic champion Laura Trott is on hand to pose for pictures with Boris Johnson, who predicts RideLondon will be “the greatest cycle weekend in the world in what is fast becoming the greatest cycling city on earth”.

February 7, 2013Prudential sponsorship and route details announcedHaving backed the short-lived PruTour stage race in 1998 and 1999, Prudential’s return to top-level cycling sponsorship is confirmed. Organisers confirm the elite race has been awarded a 1.1 ranking, and announce that the route will include three laps of a circuit around Leith Hill and that the finish on The Mall will see riders heading towards Buckingham Palace, as opposed to away from it, as was the case for the London 2012 road races. Trott and “BoJo” are once again on hand to pose for pictures.

Boris Johnson and Laura Trott pose for the cameras.

May 5Operation Chiselled WhippetWriting in his Daily Telegraph column, Boris Johnson confirms he will be riding the 100. “You must be mad, my team tell me. You’ll never make it, they say – and I look into their eyes and I know what they are thinking. They think I am just too fat and clapped-out to cycle 100 miles. They think I will cark it on Box Hill in scenes of mass hilarity. Well, folks, I don’t know about you, but the more people discourage me, the more determined I am to have a crack,” he wrote.

May 16“Train tip” for RideLondonCycling Weekly reveals that train companies will not be providing extra provision for participants of the RideLondon 100. Details for courier service and drop-off/park-and-cycle schemes put on by organisers to help riders get to the start and from the finish begin to emerge.

May 30RideLondon 100 route confirmed“The route profile shows exactly how testing this challenge will be,” said event director Hugh Brasher in relation to the 100 route, which was confirmed at the end of May. As predicted, it varies slightly from the elite race, most notably at the start and does not include laps of the Leith Hill circuit.

July 4WorldTour teams confirmed for RideLondon ClassicEight squads competing in the Tour de France – including Sky, Garmin-Sharp, Cannondale and Orica-GreenEdge – were announced for RideLondon. All six British UCI Continental teams and a Great Britain squad are also included.

June 25London road closures announcedThe Evening Standard warned of “traffic chaos” after Transport for London announced that 11 bridges across the Thames (Tower, Southwark, Westminster, Lambeth, Vauxhall , Chelsea, Albert, Putney, Chiswick, Kingston and Hampton Court) will be shut on the day of the RideLondon 100 and Classic.

July 18Hannah Barnes and Orica-AIS join Wiggle-Honda on RideLondon GP startlistThe British criterium champion and the dominant female rider of 2013 Hannah Barnes is added to the RideLondon GP startlist, where she will join Wiggle-Honda’s Olympic champions Trott, Joanna Rowsell and Dani King. Like their male counterparts, the Australian Orica-AIS squad’s attendance is also confirmed. The full startlist can be found here.

Hannah Barnes: London bound

July 19Milan-San Remo winner Gerald Ciolek confirmed for RideLondonIt was easy to miss given the news was announced during the closing part of a Tour de France Alpine stage, but MTN-Qhubeka’s Gerald Ciolek was the star attraction as 15 team line-ups for the RL Classic were announced. Scott Thwaites (NetApp-Endura), Premier Calendar winner Evan Oliphant (Raleigh) and world points race champion Simon Yates (Great Britain) were also confirmed to compete.

July 22Peter Sagan to start RideLondonHours after becoming the first rider ever to win the Tour de France green jersey twice in his first two Tour starts, Cannondale’s Peter Sagan was confirmed for RideLondon. Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge), Ben Swift (Sky) and David Millar (Garmin-Sharp) were all also announced to ride. The full startlist can be found here.

July 23New road surfaces in Surrey cause problems for cyclists ahead of RideLondonWhile Surrey County Council should be applauded for spending money on resurfacing roads used on the RideLondon course, the decision to use the controversial “surface dressing” method was baffling. CW was contacted by several people who had crashed, punctured and even had sunglasses crack because of it.

July 26BBC and Eurosport TV schedule confirmedThe BBC initially stated it would show three hours of live coverage of the RideLondon Classic when it was confirmed as the official broadcaster of the event. However, listings revealed that its extensive coverage would include the elite race in its entirety, a 45-minute edit of the women’s Grand Prix and action from the mass-participation event.

Hopefully the Ride London will get bigger and better each year and having the race on the BBC for five years would bring some stability. This is great for our domestic teams to have this opportunity to show themselves on the BBC.

It would also be nice to have more legacy races in Yorkshire, Ireland and Glasgow following next year’s Tour, Giro and Commonwealth Games.

A 2-3 day Tour of Yorkshire would surely be possible at 2.1 level and I hope ASO will be working to make this a possibility.

The Tour of Ireland is much missed and this could be the chance to bring it back as long as Lance Armstrong isn’t planning riding and bankcrupting the race again. A race incorporating the North and the Republic would be a potential.

The route of the this year’s nationals and the Commonwealth Games road race would not be great, but something similar to Ride London with a route out to Loch Lomond and back would provide good scenery and hopefully some hills.

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